Partnership could be the making of Great British Energy (Efficiency)
The Labour government’s collaboration with our industry is the key ingredient for the successful delivery of the Warm Homes Plan.
The cost of living crisis and high energy bills were all live issues during the election, and Labour has already made a strong commitment with the Warm Homes Plan to improve the energy efficiency of 5m homes, with an extra £6.6bn in an envelope of £13.2bn to 2030. This significant commitment must reach as far as possible, with the distribution mechanisms built in partnership with sector businesses to ensure the industry can progress support for green home upgrades across the country.
As such, well-designed policy combined with effective deployment will be key to bringing down energy bills and supercharging the energy efficiency industry, providing much-needed investment, delivering jobs and skills, and contributing to the United Kingdom’s economic renewal and green growth. To do this, it is vital that we are not destined to repeat the same mistakes that have plagued these objectives previously and that policy is developed in lock-step with the industries that will deliver it. Central to this is the role and support of those who sit across the floor of the House in ensuring that people-focused policy built alongside industry can become a reality.
The Mineral Wool Insulation Manufacturers Association (MIMA), with the Energy Efficiency Infrastructure Group (EEIG), is calling on our new and returning MPs to support the creation of a ‘Warm Homes Taskforce’ – drawing together vast expertise within the end-to-end supply chain, the new government, Civil Service and cross-party MPs. The Taskforce’s purpose would be to develop recommendations for a comprehensive 10-year package of complementary industry and government actions, designed to get homes upgraded properly, deliver the government’s objectives, and concurrently prepare the industry for delivery.
MPs from all parties can get behind the development of a much-needed long-term plan to deliver warmer, comfortable, quality, low-carbon homes with permanently low energy bills – all framed in the EEIG’s manifesto, ‘Tomorrow’s Homes Today’:
1. Deliver warm and comfortable homes for all: empower homeowners with incentives such as Energy Saving Stamp Duty to invest in green home upgrades.
2. Make fuel poverty a thing of the past: expand funding for and unify existing retrofit schemes, and bring in tax incentives for private landlords to expedite action to improve their properties.
3. Create greater flexibility in energy efficiency scheme eligibility: invest in growing the skilled building retrofit workforce alongside ensuring policies on insulation and low-carbon heat work together.
4. Boost consumer confidence in retrofit schemes: reform Energy Performance Certificates to make them more accurate and reliable, enabling the actual measured performance of homes.
5. Leverage local delivery: increase practical and financial support for every local authority and create greater capacity for all councils to deliver successful retrofit programmes.
6. Enable experts to help catalyse action: a tailored national energy efficiency advice scheme and a country-wide network of local retrofit facilitation hubs to draw in expertise and support homeowners.
7. Lock in energy savings: set and monitor retrofit progress and, where necessary, bring in mandatory minimum standards.
We have a timely opportunity to bring together the new government, civil servants, and cross-party MPs to deliver on our shared commitments. We know all too well that future-proofing UK homes and businesses is an investment that will secure real, tangible, and popular benefits.
Energy efficiency should not be seen as an outright cost but a route to further economic growth and social well-being, and we must equip the public and businesses to reduce their energy costs, and better enable and entrust our communities and businesses to deliver and improve lives in all parts of the country.
Every kilowatt hour of energy not used is one less generated. Surely this is our green energy superpower and truly supports our energy independence.
MIMA represents the leading non-combustible insulation companies in the UK – Knauf Insulation, ROCKWOOL and Superglass. Contact Sarah at sarah@mima.info.
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